Delaware is First in something else not to be proud of….
….and that is in states with the most uneven and unequal economic recovery. According to a new research paper released yesterday by the Economic Policy Institute, in 39 states, the top 1% of wage earners earned at least half of all income gains between 2009 and 2012. In 17 of those states, the top 1% earned all income growth, while everyone else’s wages stayed stagnant or declined.
But where did the 1% gain the most?
You guessed it.
The Great State of Delaware.
In Delaware, between 2009 and 2012, real income growth in all incomes increased by 0.7%. However, when incomes are divided into the top 1% of incomes versus the bottom 99%, things change. Between 2009 and 2012, wages actually decline for the bottom 99% by 1.6%, while increasing during the same time period for the top 1% by…. wait for it….. 15%!
That means the top 1% gets 301% of all income growth over the three years between 2009 and 2012. That means the top 1% earned THREE TIMES THEIR UNFAIR SHARE OF 100% OF ALL INCOME.
And it gets worse. Since 1979, in all economic expansions this state has experienced, the top 1% has captured 110.9% of all income growth. The bottom 99% saw their wages decline by 10.9% during that same time period. Before 1979, the statistic was reversed. 108.1% of all income growth went to the bottom 99% prior to 1979.
So, thank you President Reagan, the murderer of the middle class.
The Delaware numbers are not surprising when you consider the fact that our Governor and entire congressional delegation is exclusively and stridently devoted to trickle-down economics. I mean, add the fact that these four guys are so accessible to the state’s 1% on a daily basis and this outcome is basically inevitable.
No surprise, and I’d go out on a limb to say it was primarily driven by the financial institutions and the law firms that service them. The entire system is based on credit and expansion instead of savings and investment, the latter being the primary driver of increased standard of living and the growth of our middle class.